Glacier surges often initiate in winter, but the mechanism remains unclear in contrast to the well-known summer speed-up at normal glaciers. To better understand the mechanism, we used radar images ...to examine spatial-temporal changes in the ice velocity of surge-type glaciers near the border of Alaska and the Yukon, focusing on their quiescent phase. We found significant accelerations in the upstream region from autumn to winter, regardless of surging episodes. Moreover, the winter speed-up propagated from upstream to downstream. Given the absence of surface meltwater input in winter, we suggest the presence of water storage near the base that does not directly connect to the surface, yet can promote basal sliding through increased water pressure. Our findings have implications for the modelling of glacial hydrology in winter, which may help us better understand glacier dynamics.
Aims
To examine the effects of a sodium–glucose co‐transporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitor, tofogliflozin, on resting heart rate by exploring baseline factors that independently influenced changes in the ...resting heart rate.
Methods
Data on 419 participants in tofogliflozin phase 2/3 trials were analysed. Changes in resting heart rate from baseline to week 24 were analysed using an analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) model with groups (tofogliflozin/placebo) as a fixed effect and baseline values as covariates. The antilipolytic effect was evaluated as adipose tissue insulin resistance (Adipo‐IR) and was calculated as the product of fasting insulin and free fatty acid. Multivariate analysis evaluated independent factors for changes in resting heart rate from baseline to week 24.
Results
Of the participants, 58% were men, and mean age, HbA1c, BMI and resting heart rate were 57.6 years, 65 mmol/mol (8.1%), 25.5 kg/m2 and 66 bpm, respectively. At week 24, adjusted mean difference vs. placebo in the change from baseline was −2.3 bpm 95% confidence interval (CI) −4.6, −0.1 with tofogliflozin. Changes in resting heart rate were positively correlated with changes in Adipo‐IR, whereas reductions in HbA1c, body weight and blood pressure were similar independent of changes in resting heart among quartiles of resting heart rate change. On multivariate analysis, higher baseline resting heart rates and Adipo‐IR values were significantly associated with greater reductions in resting heart rate.
Conclusions
Tofogliflozin corrected resting heart rate levels in accordance with baseline levels. Correction of high resting heart rates may be attributed to improved adipose tissue insulin resistance, leading to correction of hyperinsulinaemia.
What’s new?
A high resting heart rate is related to increased cardiovascular and microvascular risks in persons with type 2 diabetes.
Tofogliflozin significantly reduced resting heart rate compared with placebo, irrespective of reductions in HbA1c, body weight and blood pressure.
Reduction in resting heart rate was associated with improvements in adipose tissue insulin resistance.
Higher baseline adipose tissue insulin resistance levels were independently associated with a greater decline in resting heart rate.
Correcting the resting heart rate via improved adipose tissue insulin resistance by tofogliflozin treatment might contribute to lowering the risks of cardiovascular diseases.
Background
Omentectomy is performed widely for locally advanced gastric cancer to prevent disease recurrence. However, its clinical benefit is unknown.
Methods
This retrospective cohort study ...compared the outcome of gastrectomy with preservation of the omentum (GPO) and gastrectomy with resection of the omentum (GRO) among patients with cT3–T4 gastric cancer who underwent gastrectomy between 2006 and 2012 in one of five participating institutions. A consensus conference identified 28 variables potentially associated with outcome after gastrectomy for the estimation of propensity scores, and propensity score matching (PSM) was undertaken to control for possible confounders. Postoperative surgical outcomes, overall survival and disease recurrence were compared between GPO and
GRO.
Results
A total of 1758 patients were identified, of whom 526 remained after PSM, 263 in each group. Median follow‐up was 4·9 (i.q.r. 3·1–5·9) years in the GRO group and 5·0 (2·5–6·8) years in the GPO group. The incidence of postoperative complications of Clavien–Dindo grade III or more was significantly higher in the GRO group (17·5 versus 10·3 per cent; P = 0·016). Five‐year overall survival rates were 77·1 per cent in the GRO group and 79·4 per cent in the GPO group (P = 0·749). There were no significant differences in recurrence rate or pattern of recurrence between the groups.
Conclusion
Overall survival and disease recurrence were comparable in patients with cT3–4 gastric cancer who underwent GPO or
GRO.
Antecedentes
La omentectomía se realiza ampliamente en el cáncer gástrico localmente avanzado para prevenir la recidiva de la enfermedad. Sin embargo, se desconoce su beneficio clínico.
Métodos
Este estudio retrospectivo comparó el resultado de la gastrectomía con preservación del omento (gastrectomy with preservation of the omentum, GPO) con la gastrectomía con resección del omento (gastrectomy with resection of the omentum, GRO) para el cáncer gástrico con estadio clínico T3/T4. Se incluyeron pacientes sometidos a gastrectomía por cáncer gástrico clínico T3/T4 (2006‐2012) y se recogieron datos relevantes de 5 hospitales participantes. A través de una conferencia de consenso se identificaron 28 variables potencialmente asociadas con el resultado tras la gastrectomía, mediante las cuales se estimaron las puntuaciones de propensión, utilizándose el emparejamiento por puntuación de propensión (propensity score matching, PSM) para el control de posibles factores de confusión. Los resultados quirúrgicos postoperatorios, la supervivencia global y la recidiva de la enfermedad se compararon entre las gastrectomías con GPO y GRO.
Resultados
En total, se identificaron 1.758 pacientes, seleccionándose 526 (263 GRO y 263 GPO) tras el PSM. La mediana (rango intercuartílico) de seguimiento fue de 4,9 años (3,1‐5,9) en el grupo GRO y de 5,0 años (2,5‐6,8) en el grupo GPO. La incidencia de complicaciones postoperatorias de Clavien‐Dindo grado III o más alto fue significativamente más elevada en el grupo GRO que en el grupo GPO (17,1% versus 9,1%; P = 0,010). La supervivencia global a los 5 años fue del 77,1% para el grupo GRO y del 79,4% para el grupo GPO (P = 0,749). No hubo diferencias estadísticamente significativas en la tasa de recidiva o patrón de recidiva entre ambos grupos.
Conclusión
La supervivencia global y la recidiva de la enfermedad son comparables en pacientes con cáncer gástrico estadio clínico T3‐4 sometidos a GPO o GRO.
This study investigated whether omentum‐preserving gastrectomy for locally advanced gastric cancer is non‐inferior to omentum‐sparing gastrectomy, with rigorous adjustment for all known potential confounding factors associated with outcomes. Five‐year overall survival rates were 79·4 and 77·1 per cent respectively. Oncologically, omentum‐preserving and omentum‐resecting gastrectomy yielded similar outcomes.
No difference
The literature suggests that the estimate of lean mass may be overestimated in the obese using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), as ~15% of adipose tissue is composed of fat-free tissue. The ...purpose of this study was to investigate how the DXA-derived fat-free adipose influences appendicular lean mass and prevalence of sarcopenia across a range of body fat % in both men and women using a national sample (n=1946). The appendicular lean mass/m
went from 7.0 kg/m
(confidence interval (CI): 6.9, 7.2) to 5.9 kg/m
(CI: 5.8, 6.1) following correction in those with ⩾35% body fat, whereas it only went from 7.5 kg/m
(CI: 7.2, 7.8) to 7.1 kg/m
(CI: 6.8, 7.4) following correction in those with <25% body fat. Fat-free adipose tissue may need to be accounted for when estimating appendicular lean mass and failure to account for fat-free adipose tissue may underestimate the prevalence of sarcopenia.
Animals move their head and eyes as they explore the visual scene. Neural correlates of these movements have been found in rodent primary visual cortex (V1), but their sources and computational roles ...are unclear. We addressed this by combining head and eye movement measurements with neural recordings in freely moving mice. V1 neurons responded primarily to gaze shifts, where head movements are accompanied by saccadic eye movements, rather than to head movements where compensatory eye movements stabilize gaze. A variety of activity patterns followed gaze shifts and together these formed a temporal sequence that was absent in darkness. Gaze-shift responses resembled those evoked by sequentially flashed stimuli, suggesting a large component corresponds to onset of new visual input. Notably, neurons responded in a sequence that matches their spatial frequency bias, consistent with coarse-to-fine processing. Recordings in freely gazing marmosets revealed a similar sequence following saccades, also aligned to spatial frequency preference. Our results demonstrate that active vision in both mice and marmosets consists of a dynamic temporal sequence of neural activity associated with visual sampling.
This study addresses the hypothesis that SIRT1 upregulation prior to cryopreservation helps in recuperation from cryoinjury and improves the embryo quality. Bovine blastocysts were produced in vitro, ...and at Day 6 or 7 after fertilization, the blastocysts were cultured with 0 or 1 μM resveratrol for 6 or 24 h. This short duration of resveratrol treatment did not affect the embryo development or the grade of the blastocysts. However, both the durations of resveratrol treatment (6 h or 24 h) significantly increased the expression levels of SIRT1. When embryos pre-treated with resveratrol (0 or 1 μM) were cryopreserved and subsequently thawed, the hatching rates following 48 h of incubation were significantly higher for the resveratrol-treated embryos than for vehicle-treated embryos. Moreover, the resveratrol pretreatment significantly increased the copy number of mitochondrial DNA in the embryos, irrespective of the treatment durations. The in vitro-produced embryos at 6 days of insemination and the in vivo-developed embryos, which were collected from the donor cows at 6.5 days of insemination, were treated with resveratrol for 6 or 24 h prior to cryopreservation, respectively. The resveratrol pretreatment (for 6 or 24 h) resulted in high conception rate after thawing and transfer to the recipients, in both the in vivo and in vitro-produced embryos. In conclusion, our results suggest that pretreatment of bovine embryos with resveratrol improves the quality of embryos after cryopreservation and thawing probably through mitochondrial synthesis.
•Cryoinjury of embryos comes from mitochondrial damage.•Treatment of embryos with resveratrol prior to cryopreservation enhances SIRT1 and protects embryos against cryoinjury and results in high conception rate after transfer.
Summary
This study evaluated changes in spinal alignment and quality of life (QOL) after corrective spinal surgery for patients with postmenopausal osteoporosis and spinal kyphosis. Spinal global ...alignment and QOL were significantly improved after corrective spinal surgery but did not reach the level of non-operated controls.
Introduction
With the increased aging of society, the demand for corrective spinal instrumentation for spinal kyphosis in osteoporotic patients is increasing. However, previous studies have not focused on the improvement of quality of life (QOL) after corrective spinal surgery in patients with osteoporosis, compared to non-operated control patients. The purposes of this study were thus to evaluate changes in spinal alignment and QOL after corrective spinal instrumentation for patients with osteoporosis and spinal kyphosis and to compare these results with non-operated patients.
Methods
Participants comprised 39 patients with postmenopausal osteoporosis ≥50 years old who underwent corrective spinal surgery using multilevel posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF) for symptomatic thoracolumbar or lumbar kyphosis, and 82 age-matched patients with postmenopausal osteoporosis without prevalent vertebral fractures. Spinopelvic parameters were evaluated with standing lateral spine radiography, and QOL was evaluated with the Japanese Osteoporosis QOL Questionnaire (JOQOL), SF-36, and Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire (RDQ).
Results
Lumbar kyphosis angle, sagittal vertical axis, and pelvic tilt were significantly improved postoperatively. QOL evaluated with all three questionnaires also significantly improved after 6 months postoperatively, particularly in domain and subscale scores for pain and general/mental health. However, these radiographic parameters, total JOQOL score, SF-36 physical component summary score, and RDQ score were significantly inferior compared with non-operated controls.
Conclusions
The results indicate that spinal global alignment and QOL were significantly improved after corrective spinal surgery using multilevel PLIF for patients with osteoporosis and spinal kyphosis but did not reach the level of non-operated controls.
Post-installed anchors and reinforcing bars are used to connect equipment or to fasten strengthening members to reinforced concrete (RC) structures. For safety reasons, appropriate structural design ...is critical. Recently, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) have been applied in various fields. According to previous studies, the bending strength of the RC beam and the bond strength of the surface can be predicted using ML. In this study, the mechanical behavior of post-installed anchors subjected to shear force were predicted using ML. Four algorithms were applied in this study: Random Forest (RF), XGBoost (XB), LightGBM (LG), and an artificial neural network (ANN). Moreover, the authors’ previous test results were used for the ML and testing. The number of specimens was thirty-two. The test parameters were the concrete compressive strength fc, diameter of the anchor bolt dd, type of adhesive, and tensile ratio rN. The values for fc and dd were set at 13.0–35.5 N/mm2 and 13–25 mm, respectively. In this study, one epoxy adhesive and three cement-based adhesives were used. rN, which is the ratio of the tensile stress to yield strength of the anchor bolt, was set to 0, 0.33, and 0.66. Consequently, the four algorithms could accurately predict the mechanical behavior of the specimen when the parameters were within or close to the training data. However, the prediction agreements of RF, XB, and LG were not good for the behavior of specimens whose parameters were not included in the training data. Nevertheless, the ANN was able to reasonably predict the behavior of these cases. It was concluded that the four algorithms can make good predictions when the parameters are within or close to the training data. However, when parameters outside the training data were used, the ANN was the best of the four algorithms used in this study.
The proposed International Linear Collider (ILC) is well-suited for discovering physics beyond the Standard Model and for precisely unraveling the structure of the underlying physics. The physics ...return can be maximized by the use of polarized beams. This report shows the paramount role of polarized beams and summarizes the benefits obtained from polarizing the positron beam, as well as the electron beam. The physics case for this option is illustrated explicitly by analyzing reference reactions in different physics scenarios. The results show that positron polarization, combined with the clean experimental environment provided by the linear collider, allows to improve strongly the potential of searches for new particles and the identification of their dynamics, which opens the road to resolve shortcomings of the Standard Model. The report also presents an overview of possible designs for polarizing both beams at the ILC, as well as for measuring their polarization.
PDF
